An ultra-radical follower of former President Jair Bolsonaro, accused of participating in an attempt to blow up a fuel tanker at Brasilia International Airport, which could have caused a great human tragedy, has been arrested by the Paraguayan National Police. Wellington Macedo de Souza, a self-described journalist who runs a blog, has been hiding in Brazil’s neighboring country since December 24, Christmas Eve 2022, when, according to Brazilian authorities, he was accompanied by two other right-wing extremists who seized
carried out an attempted terrorist attack, which did not take place because the driver of a fuel tanker, in which a powerful bomb was planted, noticed something wrong in the car and called the police.
Wellington and two other defendants, already arrested and convicted, were part of a camp of ultra-radical followers of former President Jair Bolsonaro set up near army headquarters in Brasilia after the then-ruler was defeated by Lula da Silva in last October’s presidential election. Residents of the camp, who numbered in the thousands and had logistical support from senior military officials, demanded that the Armed Forces stage a coup to prevent Lula from taking office and to keep Bolsonaro as president with sole powers, commanding a new dictatorship. …like the one that ruled Brazil between 1964 and 1985.
Shortly after being arrested by Paraguayan troops in Ciudad del Este, which borders the Brazilian city of Foz do Iguaçu, Wellington was handed over to Brazilian federal police at the Ponte da Amizade bridge, which connects the two cities and two countries. Along with him, two other far-right Brazilians, a man and a woman, were arrested and charged with other crimes and also handed over to Brazilian authorities.
According to an investigation by the Civil Police (Judicial) of Brasilia, it was Wellington who drove another accused, Alan Diego dos Santos Rodriguez, who was responsible for planting the bomb under aviation kerosene, from the camp to the airport in the Brazilian capital. truck. . According to investigators, it was businessman George Washington de Oliveira Souza who planted the bomb in the extremist camp next to the General Headquarters and handed it over to Alan and Wellington.
Author: Domingos Grilo Serrinha This correspondent in Brazil
Source: CM Jornal
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